Automatic weighing-machine.



A. J. BALL.

AUTOMATIC WEIGHING MACHINE. I APPLICATION FILED JULY 12, 1909,

947,986. Patented Feb. 1, 1910.

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APPLICATION FILED JULY 12, 1908. I

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AUTOMATIC WEIGHING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED JULY 12, 1909.

Patented Feb. 1, 1910.

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A, J. BALL AUTGMAI'IU WEIGHING MAGETNE. APPLIOATIQN FILED JULY 12, 1909.

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AUTOMATIC WEIGHINGM&G'HINE.

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Patented Feb. 1, 1910.

A pplleation filed July 12, 1969. Serial No. 50?,07'8.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known thatl, ANDREW J. BALL, a citizen of the United States,residing; at

Fort WVorth, in the county of Tarrant. and" State of Texas, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in AutomaticWe1ghingMach1nes, of which the following fis'a specification.

My invention relates to a 'machine for welghlng grain and other smallarticles, and theohject 18,130 rovide a machine "which w ll Wei haccurate v and 'nniforml" and ento- ,matically discharge. a loadas soonas a edetermined amount is obtained from a fall taken along of Fig. 5.

l 1 mg stream 01 gram or other goons.

One object is to provide two discharging hoppers so that there will heno intermission dur operations and this is accomplished by using the hopers alternately. -ris soon as one hopper is h led or the required amountis received in the hop er, the hopper is dis- )laced and the other opperis immediately hrought into position to receive a char 'e.

Other objects and advantages will he rally explained in the followingdescription and the invention will be more particnlhrly pointed out inthe claims.

Reference is had to the accompanying drawings which -form part of tinsappli cation.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine. Fig. 9. is a detail view,illustrating the trap door tripping mechanism. Fig. 3 is an endelevation of the machine. Fig. 4: is a side elevation of a. portion ofthe machine illustrating the tr oping mechanism. Fig. 5 is a plan viewoi the double valve. Fig. 6 is a cross-section of the valve shown in 5plan view oi one of the trap doors is an edge view of the same. detailview, showing a buffer for the di charge hopper on one side. Fig. 10 isa detail view, showing the manner of hanging the ends of the pivotbeams.

Fig. '8

Similar characters of reference are usedto indicate the same partsthroi'ighout the several views.

The machine is shown mounted in rigld hangers l and provided with aframe, preferably constructed of angle bars 2. The hangers 1 areconnected by cross beams 3 and the angle bars 2 are attached'to thehangers 1 and cross beams 3. Scale beams 4 and 5 are swingingly mountedon brackets (3 by rlevises T inwhich the beams are pivot I and 5 Fig.'i" is a' Fig. 91s aally mounted, I The free ends of the beams beams andthe supporting loeanis carry the en re eight of a donhle hopper composedoi hopper l6 and hop er 1?. These hoppers are divided by partitionalong; the line 18. The linesll) indicate the inclined parts of theWalls of the hoppers which extend from the partition 18 downwardly. Thehoppers 16 l'l have their sides oi a common piece oi? sheec metal 21 andthis metal engages the rocker one 9.0.. Both hoppers are thus supportedon hhe wh ch is pivctally monnted in the beams ill and 12. The hoppers16 and 1'? are so arran ed on the she 2% that each beans. will he tiltedat the moment the desired Weigh-c or goods has been received. When thehopper is tilted it strikes a iarip hereinafter explained and the trapdoor is opened and the load is discharged. Each hopper is provided withe chute 22 for directing the goods to a suitable receptacle. Each hopperis provided with a trap door 23 which is pivots 1y connected to one edgeof the hopper by a shaftQ.

An arm 25 is rigid with the shaft- 24- and carries a weight 26. Thedoors 28 are held closed normally by dogs 27 which are pivotallyconnected to the sides of the hoppers. The dogs 27 have arms 28 andsprings 29 on these arms to hold the dogs normally in engagement withthe trap doors hen the hoppers are tilted the arms 28 strike the trip 30which Will disengage the dogs 2? and then let the doors fall anddischarge the contents or" the hopper The weights 26 bring the doors 23back to normal positions as soon as the load is discharged; A. stop 31is attached to the side of each hopper to arrest the weight 26 toprevent the same from going too far or he vond a center. Utherwise theWeightsmight be thrown so far that they would not bring the doors backto normal positions.

Means are provided for shifting the valve which permits grain to flowinto the hop limited in their movements by other hopper.

persalternately and for regulating the tilt mg of the hoppers. A doublevalve for cutting oh the How of grain from a supply source to thehoppers is provided. This valve is provided with openings and 34 and thevalve is pivotally mounted on a pivot 85 or trunnion on each side of thefeeding hopper 36 by means of hangers 37. The feeding hopper 36 may bemounted on the frame by brackets 38. The valve 32 is curved as shown andthe valve is swung on the pivots 35 by the hoppers. Arms 39' areattached to the hoppers 16 and 17 and pins or lugs 40 are attached tothe edge of the valve and projected loosely through the arms 39. As thehopper moves the valve drawn with the hopper.

he following is a description of the means for causing the hoppers tomove gradually. A weighted lever 41 is fulcrumed in a hanger 42. Thislever 41 has an arm 43 which engages a lug td which is attached to thehopper. A forked stop to is attached to the frame to prevent the lever41 from being thrown too high after the hopper has discharged its loador charge. A dog hanger d6 is attached to the frame of the machine andhangs through a guide 47 which maintains hanger A6 in the same verticalplane. The guide 47 is slotted to permit movement of the hanger t6. Adog 48 is fulcrumed in the hanger 46. 49 which is attached to thehopper. A spring 50 is attached to the frame and to the bottom, of thehanger 46. A hammer 51 is carried by the lever 41. In operation, thehopper descends slowly when grain com-. mences to flow therein. T hehopper 16', for example, moves downward gradually until the lug et-treleases the arm While the hopper is descending, the spring'oO ispulling on the lug 4-9 by means of the dog 48 and hanger 46. This makesthe movement of the hopper gradual and while-this operation is going onthe arms 8 are gradually moving the valve 82 and making the opening forthe passage of grain smaller. The hopper continues to descend until thelug 4% releases the arm 43. The hammer 51 will then trip the dog 48 andthe hopper is released. The hopper closes the valve automaticallyfollowing the release of the lug 44: and at the same time the hopper haspassed on the center of its pivot shaft 20. The-Weighing takes place atthis time and the hopper is tilted. The arm strikes the trip 30 and thisreleases the trap door 23. At the same time the other hopper 17 isbrought under the opening on the other side of valve 32 and graincommences to fill the Each hopper is provided With duplicate mechanismand the hoppers when once started to work continue automatically to befilled and discharged alter- The dog 48 engages a lugerases nately.Immediately after a hopper obtains the desired weight, it tilts todischarge its load and at the same time brings the other hopper inposition to be filled and the filling goes on as above described. Byreason of the fact that the valve is gradually closed there is nodribble between the valve and the hopper to vary the weight. The amountof grain to be obtained at each charge is regulated by adjustment of theweight. 52 on the scale beam t. The scale beams may be further adjustedby the weights 10 and 53.

As the hoppers oscillate to discharge and be filled, it is importantthat the scale beams 11 move only in the same v rtical plane. Forcausing such movement a bolt 54: is projected through the brace andthrough the clevis 15 to prevent the vibration of the clevis out of itsplane. As the hoppers will fall with considerable force toward eachside, a springbuifer 56 is mounted on the frame of the machineapproximately at the l mit of the fall of the hopper so that the hopperwill come agalnst the spring buffer and thus prevent the pounding of thehopper.

Having fully deseribed my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by- Letters Patent, is,

1. A weighing machine having a frame, a pair of'scale beams suspended onsaid frame, a pair of supporting beams suspended at one end on saidscale beams and at the other end suspended on said frame, a feedinghopper mounted on said frame, a discharge hopper provided with twocompartments pivotally mounted on said supporting beams, a double valvepivotally mounted on said feedin hopper and operatively connected withsai discharge hopper whereby said valve is shiftedas the dischargehopper is shifted, a trap door for each compartment of saiddischargehopper, means for releasing said trap doors when said dischargehopper is tilted, and weights movable on said scale beams to determinewhen said hopper is to be tilted.-

2. A weighing machine havin a frame, a pair of scale beams suspende nearone end on said frame, a pair of supporting beams suspended at one endon said scale beams and at the other end suspended on said frame, arocker shaft journaled in said supporting beams, 21 double weighinghopper mounted on said rocker shaft, a feed a pair of scaie beamssuspended near one end on said frame, a pair of supporting beamssuspended at. one end on saulscale beams and at the other end suspendedon said frame, a rocker-shaft journaled in said supportingbeams, adischarge hopper having two comlimrtments and being pivotally mounted onsaid rocker-shaft, a discharge chute tor each compartment, a feed hopperfor said compartments mounted on said frame, a alve'having two dischargeways and being pivotally mounted on said feed hopper and being: looselyconnected to each compartment of said discharge hopper whereby thecommunication from said teed hopper to one of said dischargecompartments is gradually closed and completely closed at, the momentthe desired quantity is received into the discharge compartment and thecommunication from the feed liopper opened to the empty dischargecompartment, and means for retarding the tilting of the dischargecompartments.

A weighing machine having a frame, a pair of scale beams suspended onsaid.

frame, a pair of supporting beams suspended at one end on said scalebeams and at the other end suspended on said frame, a rockershattjournaled in said supporting beams, a discharge hopper pivotally mountedon said shaft and having two compartments adapted to discharge on eitherside of said rockershaft, a feed hopper iounted on said frame, a curvedvalve and arms for said valve pivotally mounted on said feed hopper,said valve having a passage Way from said feed valve to one of saidcompartments and a second passage way from said feed valve to the othercompartment, said compartments having connections with said valvewhereby said valve is automatically shifted as one compartment is beingfilled to bring a passage Way of the valve in communiczv tion with anempty compartment, and means for retarding the shifting of saidco1npartments.

In testimony whereof, I set my hand in the presence of two witnesses,this 21st day oi June, 1909.

ANDREW J. BALL.

Witnesses:

A. L. JACKSON, E. B. HANDLE;

